3D Printing: Shaping the Future

I am not sure how many of you have actually seen a 3D printer in action, but boy is it something else! I know it sounds weird…3D printing. How is that even possible? Printing is two-dimensional. How can a physical, three-dimensional object possibly be made by printing?

For starters you need to see the process for yourself, so check out this video.

Pretty wild, right? This new technology is definitely revolutionizing the way we do so many things. Prototypes, models, tools, moving parts, toys, body parts, food, and even full scale houses, all made from a 3D printer! I would say that is not only wild, but remarkable.

As a recap, 3D printing is also known as additive printing. It is the process of making a three-dimensional solid object from a digital file created by laying down continuous layers of materials until the object is complete. The materials used can vary as you saw in the video, but plastic is most common.

3D printing is known for its ability for mass customization, cost and time savings, being environmentally friendly, mitigating risk for errors before mass production, quicker turnarounds, waste reduction, appealing to the sense of touch, and cheap product testing.

As with anything, there are pros and cons, and advocates and opponents. For example, let’s look at tool manufacturing. 3D printing eliminates the time and labor intensive stages that are involved with the production process leading to a great reduction in costs, lead times and labor. Some will argue that while the cost savings is significant, it means that people’s jobs are being replaced my machines. Nonetheless, we will continue to see great things happen with the technology of 3D printing.

While Avalon is a printing company, we have yet to invest in this new technology, but we do see potential in 3D printing. As we are always looking to broaden our services, we will continue to keep an eye on how this technology continues to shape our future. We already know that our architectural and engineering clients would love to have access to this process for their presentation models. Take a look at this last video.